Originally published by Epicor here
SourceDay, the leader in supplier portal and purchase order collaboration, and Epicor, a global leader in industry-specific ERP tools, are partnering to turbocharge purchase order (PO) lifecycle management. Supplier communication is one of the most important indicators of supply chain efficiency, and this joint effort brings world-class collaboration tools to discrete manufacturers and suppliers, helping them successfully navigate supply chain disruptions.
Closing the Gaps in Supplier Communication
The combination of SourceDay’s AI-driven supplier portal and purchase order collaboration solution, along with Epicor Kinetic—a purpose-built ERP system for discrete manufacturers—addresses long-standing gaps in supply chain communication and supplier engagement. Epicor is now an official reseller of the SourceDay platform, offering seamless, real-time communication between buyers and suppliers while also keeping Kinetic up-to-date in real-time—at the PO-line and release level across all direct spend suppliers.
Today’s supply chains are increasingly complex and always unpredictable. Without integrated supplier communication, organizations are overly reliant on outdated and error-prone processes that introduce unnecessary risks, resulting in delays or other costly disruptions. Improving supplier engagement is a foundational element for reducing supply chain risk. Through this partnership, manufacturers running Kinetic can deliver measurable results by detecting and responding to supply chain disruptions quickly. Bringing together a network of over 100,000+ suppliers and proprietary AI and machine learning, SourceDay is able to proactively identify supply chain risks—like inaccurate lead times—enabling faster, data-driven decisions.
A Customer-Centric Approach to Scalable, Long-Term Innovation
Global supply chain volatility continues to hinder businesses, leaving many struggling to adapt and maintain transparency in supplier communications. Meanwhile, procurement teams working with outdated tools like email or paper processes are finding it increasingly difficult to keep pace with their organization’s needs.
This partnership was the direct result of customer feedback and internal collaboration between the Epicor EDI and Kinetic teams. Both of these teams recognized the growing need for timely, automated supplier updates to help ensure accurate MRP and uninterrupted production lines for their customers—meeting this need is why SourceDay exists. From the start, SourceDay was built to solve real supply chain problems, and it’s working: their customers have seen 96% on-time delivery, cut safety stock by 22%, and made their purchasing teams 80% more efficient. The platform has evolved over the years to provide a wide range of engagement options, enabling organizations like Epicor to address the supplier collaboration challenge effectively.
“Our customers needed a better way to manage supplier communication,” says Jennifer Triftshauser, Director of Product Management at Epicor. “The result of this partnership is a solution that leverages Kinetic, Epicor EDI, and SourceDay to provide multiple paths forward for streamlining communication and reducing risk.” With SourceDay’s track record of elevating supplier engagement across the entire direct spend supplier network, Epicor knew this partnership would set up Kinetic customers for success. “We are very excited to now offer SourceDay as our go-to solution for Kinetic customers looking to modernize their supply chains with an AI-driven supplier portal,” adds Triftshauser.
This formal ISV Partnership comes after six years of SourceDay supporting Epicor customers and partnering with the Epicor Channel ecosystem. It represents an alignment of vision from both companies to provide the most innovative tools available. This includes building solutions for scalability and longevity, while harnessing evolving AI and massive proprietary aggregate data sets to drive innovation.
“Solving the supplier engagement challenge has been a key innovation pillar for us, and our platform has evolved to provide a full range of engagement options for PO management,” says Colby Young, Vice President of Alliances at SourceDay. “By adding email-based workflows and direct EDI/API connections, we have met suppliers where they are at with technology and opened the lines of communication beyond just a portal, to enable 90%+ supplier engagement across our customer base. Supplier optionality is one of SourceDay’s critical differentiators to all other ‘portals’ that have existed in the market.”
In addition to real-time, centralized communication, purchasing organizations rely on the accuracy of their data in order to make smart decisions moving forward. Uncertainty is the enemy of an efficient supply chain. SourceDay’s technology captures and prioritizes key action messages and feeds real-time PO updates directly into Kinetic for unmatched visibility, control, and operational success.
Schedule a demo today and discover how the SourceDay and Epicor partnership brings manufacturers seamless supply chain collaboration, supplier engagement, and operational transparency.
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